Shattered Dreams
by Emisi
Summary: Written before Season 4 came out, this is an AU fic. Watch out... sometimes your dreams come true. Bob, Dot and the others are trapped after a game gone wrong.
1. Dreams of War

A/N I wrote this several years ago, before Season 4 came out, and just recently found it. I always liked it, and maybe I'll get around to finishing it now! I hope you like it.  
  
Shattered Dreams Chapter 1  
  
nanosecond = seconds millisecond = minute microsecond = hour second = day cycle = week minute = month hour = year year = 10 years  
  
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The room was black, that velvet darkness that comes between midnight and dawn, before the first rosy blush of morning stains the sky but long after the last tint of blue has faded from the evening sky. Even the streetlights that illuminated the street for those sleepless souls that graced the roadway failed to pierce the inky blackness of the room. A single sprite lay in the faint blue glow of an energy bed, turning restlessly as her dreams disturbed her. The blue energy turned her face turquoise in it's gentle glow, but the distinctive short haircut, as well as the picture of a smiling blue sprite with long black- and-silver hair that was signed "XOXO, Bob" proclaimed that the sprite that slept restlessly in the energy bed was Dot Matrix, command.com of system Mainframe  
  
A pair of thickly black-fringed purple eyes suddenly opened as Dot jerked awake and out of her bed. Her frightened eyes searched the bedroom before she relaxed, raising a shaking hand to her head. The dream had been real-to real. She had watched Bob, the man she loved, fight Daemon...and lose. Dot knew that any fight with a supervirus that was lost would immediately result in the deletion of the loser, so even though she had awoken before the supervirus had deleted Bob, she knew it was the outcome. Releasing a shaky breath Dot slipped out of bed and stretched. She would never be bale to get back to sleep anyway, so she might as well get some work done. It tended to pile up as if by magic, new problems springing up even while she slept.  
  
Sliding into her favorite chair, which was placed in front of a serviceable desk in her room, Dot turned on her desk light and opened her organizer. Information about the latest problems in Mainframe- a report of a binome that had gotten so impatient with the slow service at Al's Wait and Eat that he had started a fight that had destroyed several booth and slowed down the food service even more, if that was possible, and the ever-looming problem of the nulls, homeless now that Lost Angles had not been restored in the restart, a small troop of which had decided to move into the basement of a building in Baudway and needed to be flushed out.  
  
Dot sighed and removed her glasses to rub her tired eyes. Micros for sleeping were already few and far between, but if terrifying dreams had begun to invade her exhausted mind it wouldn't be long before she dropped from exhaustion. Bob and Matrix had been giving her worried looks when they thought she wasn't watching, but she tried to ignore their concerned glances when possible. There was too much to do, between running Mainframe and planning an attack on Daemon, to worry about a lack of sleep. She had managed before and she would manage now. Too much was riding on the balance for her to fret about not sleeping.  
  
Deciding that she wouldn't be able to work out the latest problems without the help of her capable and efficient staff, she slid her chair away from her desk and stood up. Might as well check on Enzo. She opened her door and stepped into the dark hallway. Feeling her way down the hall with one hand on the wall she walked until her searching fingers touched the frame of Enzo's door. Gently opening the door she peered in at her little brother, only to find him whimpering softly in his sleep and tossing restlessly, just as she had been only millis before. Dot frowned slightly and moved to kneel near his bed before gently touching his shoulder. Enzo shot upright at her touch with a yell, shaking like a daisywheel in a stiff breeze. His eyes searched the room rapidly before lighting on Dot, and he relaxed visibly when he discovered his concerned sister kneeling next to his bed. Dot noticed that although his face relaxed his eyes continued to look frightened, so she gently squeezed his shoulder.  
  
"Did you have a bad dream, Enzo?" At his confirming nod she gave him a brief hug. "What don't you tell me about it? Sometimes it helps to talk, since it makes the dream feel less real."  
  
Enzo took a deep breath. "I was watching Bob fight a gold woman with dark blue hair. I think it must have been Daemon, because he lost." Enzo paused for another breath, not realizing that his statement reaffirmed his hero- worship of Bob by the assumption that he wouldn't have lost to anyone less than a supervirus. "She was about to delete him when you woke me up... Sis? Is something wrong? You're all pale."  
  
Dot's green face had gone white, and she had to swallow several times before she could answer. "I'm all right, Enzo. I just had the same dream earlier, even to Bob losing to Daemon."  
  
Enzo frowned. "Do you think it means something? Like Bob's going to lose to Daemon when they fight?"  
  
Dot gave her younger brother a stern look. "Don't be ridiculous, Enzo. It's just because we've been planning the attack so hard that we're dreaming about what will happen if we lose. Now," she said, softening her tone and beginning to stand up, "Why don't you go back to sleep? A young sprite like you needs his sleep, especially since you have school in a few seconds."  
  
Enzo grabbed her hand, preventing her from standing up any further. His violet eyes, so much like her own but younger and more innocent looked at her in wide-eyed terror. "NO! Please Dot, don't leave me and don't make me go back to sleep! I know that dream will return if I go back to sleep, I know it! Please, Dot!"  
  
Dot wavered for a moment, then gave in to his terrified, pleading look. His fright was unfeigned and she didn't want her little brother to be scared. "All right Enzo, you can stay up. Just don't blame me if you fall asleep in school tomorrow."  
  
"I won't. I'm never going to sleep, not ever again!" If he hadn't still been so frightened Dot would have chuckled at his earnest announcement.  
  
Enzo hopped out of his energy bed and trailed Dot down the hallway, sticking behind her like a worried shadow. Pausing for a nanosecond Dot checked the time on the illuminated clock set on a table at the end of the short hallway. She winced slightly; two micros before dawn. It would be a long day. After a quick consultation with Enzo she decided to call Bob on the off chance that he was awake. Bob was sleeping even less than she was, so it was possible that he was already awake, or even still up. She dialed the vidwindow, and Bob's face appeared. The sagging eyelids and dark circles under his beautiful brown eyes made her instantly regret calling him. She had woken him up during a much needed rest.  
  
"Dot?" Bob rubbed his tired eyes, trying to awaken fully. He had just fallen asleep when the tone of an incoming vidwindow had woken him up, but he knew that Dot wouldn't call unless there was a problem. Usually. "What's wrong? And why is Enzo up so late?" He frowned slightly -- Dot's eyes were slightly frightened looking and her lips were pursed; a sign of tension.  
  
"Bob, have you had... a nightmare? About you and Daemon fighting?" Her tense voice worried him-why was she so worried over a bad dream?  
  
"No, I haven't had any sleep in the past two seconds. Why, did you have one?" He managed to keep the annoyance out of his voice; he was losing precious time that he could use to be sleeping to discuss a dream?  
  
Dot nodded and pulled Enzo toward her to stand by her side in front of the vidwindow. "Both of us did, and it was the exact same dream." She quickly described the duel nightmare, with Enzo adding a few details that he felt she had left out that were important, and by the end of the narrative Bob was frowning thoughtfully.  
  
"That's very strange, Dot. You both had the same dream, even to Daemon looking the same, even though we've never seen her. We'll have to ask Matrix and AndrAIa tomorrow if they had the same dream as well." Bob interrupted himself with a yawn and his eyelids dropped further. "Dot, Enzo, I'm sorry to cut this short but I need to sleep. I'll talk to you at the meeting tomorrow." He closed the vidwindow and collapsed backwards into his energy bed, falling asleep immediately.  
  
***  
  
Matrix"s huge green fist slammed down onto the long, sturdy table, making the cups of cocoa bounce and rattle, as well as stopping all discussion, which had been his original intention.  
  
"I don't care if it was only a dream! They're too similar to be a coincidence," he growled, his deep voice betraying his agitation.  
  
AndrAIa laid a calming hand on top of her lover's clenched fist. "What else could it be, Matrix? I admit that it is strange that Daemon looks the same in all of our dreams, but it could be just a jumble constructed from prior experiences with viruses. Her hair was the same color as Megabyte's body armor, and that gold color could be Bob's fault." At the sprite in question's surprised denial she aimed an apologetic smile at him. "Sorry Bob, but it might be. Your body armor is silver now, and you're a sort of, um, super guardian, so maybe a supervirus would be gold."  
  
"It does make sense," Dot agree with a nod. "In fact, that's probably what it was. Just our tired minds piecing together an image of the enemy we think about constantly from familiar thoughts, then using our fears to animate the image."  
  
"Yeah, I suppose that's probably what it was." He aimed a sly look at his sister. "Especially since we all know who occupies all of your thoughts, Sis." Dot and Bob both blushed, Dot turning a darker shade of green and Bob turning purple. The others clustered around the table laughed, the tension broken for the moment. Dot glanced at Bob, who sat on her right as the city's guardian, with Dot at the head of the table, her privilege as command.com. Bob gave her a swift, charming grin that still made her heart flip flop, even though she had known him for at least three hours. She suspected he knew what his smiles did to her, which caused him to smile at her all the more, always with the same effect on her heart. Somehow, Dot didn't mind in the least.  
  
"All right everyone," she began once the laughter had died down, "now that we've settled the dream issue, are there any details we've overlooked about the invasion that you thought up last night?"  
  
Heads shook no as she looked around the table -- they had covered everything thoroughly, and now they were ready to invade the supercomputer with the faint hope of destroying Daemon. Deep down, buried in the hope that the fear wouldn't rise to the surface and show in her eyes, Dot thought that they would fail.  
  
Their tiny army of CPUs and sprites had almost no chance of even coming close to the Guardian Academy and Armory that was Daemon's lair, much less taking it over and destroying Daemon, freeing the infected Guardians from their viral master and freeing the entire Net from the imprisonment enacted by the infected Guardians.  
  
"Well then, if there's nothing else to plan, all that's left is personal preparations. Good luck everyone. The known Net is counting on you." Everyone but Bob and Dot stood up and walked out, heading for their homes to prepare to leave. Dot's eyes were closed and she didn't know that she wasn't alone at the table. A tear slipped past her closed eyelashes and slowly slid down her cheek. Bob leaned forward and gently brushed it away with his fingertips and Dot's eyes flew open to look at him with eyes swimming with tears. Bob opened his arms and Dot slid into his gentle embrace, tears now flowing freely down her cheeks. He held her gently while she cried, rubbing her back soothingly, knowing that when she was ready she would tell him the cause of her tears. She didn't leave him wondering long.  
  
"Can we win this battle, Bob? Even with the webriders, who I'm still not sure that you can win to your cause, it's still a tiny army, an ant against an ABC. You've all just come back to me... I'm afraid that I"ll lost you and Matrix both and I"ll be alone again." Her worried violet eyes looked into his, and he tried to give her a reassuring look, though those were his fears as well.  
  
"We can win, Dot. An ant can hide in the supercomputer better than an ABC, and go where one of those battle carriers never could. We won't be outright attacking, trying to win a battle by brute force that we would definitely lose. We're going to infiltrate it and assassinate Daemon. We will come back to you Dot, and anyway, you still have little Enzo. You won't be alone while we're gone." Dot's eyes were still worried, so Bob tilted her chin up so that her face was towards his. "If it helps any, I'll miss you so much while I'm gone that I'll make sure we delete Daemon as fast as we can so that I can some back and get my welcome home kiss," he told her teasingly, a smile sparkling in his warm brown eyes. Dot smiled back at him, the worry temporarily removed from her eyes.  
  
"I'll miss you too, Bob. Hurry back to me." He nodded, then moved his head down, pressing a gentle kiss to Dot's lips.  
  
"Warning: Incoming Game." The automated game warning cut through the tender moment and Bob lifted his head to look out the window. Dot detached herself from his arms and gently pushed him towards the door.  
  
"Go on Bob. You need to be in that game. Good luck." He nodded and gently caressed her cheek, then flipped out his zipboard and was gone. Dot looked out the window toward the game cube and frowned. The cube, instead of it's customary purple with streaks white lightening was light pink with flashing blue lights flickering on and off on its surface like fireflies. As it descended she noticed that, instead of detaching from the hole in the sky it had come out of the cube was elongating, remaining connected to the sky no matter how low it descended. Alarmed, Dot threw down her zipboard and jumped on, hurrying after Bob. She and Bob had often worked well together in game cubes, and with such a strange cube descending he would need all the help he could get.  
  
She caught up to him at the site where the Tor had once stood. The game cube was descending far slower than usual, giving Matrix, AndrAIa and Frisket, who had been following behind Dot, plenty of time to get under the cube. The few binomes that had been in the area had already fled, leaving the seven sprites - Mouse and Ray Tracer had been inspecting the land where the Tor had stood and Ray had requested they stay, wanting to test his new icon that he had been given, which would allow him to reboot in the games -- alone under the cube. Bob frowned up at the strange cube, then transferred his gaze to Dot, who had just stopped beside him.  
  
"Dot? What are you doing here? You're the command.com, you should be in the Principal Office."  
  
"I don't like the look of that game cube, Bob. It's pink, the lights are wrong and it's not descending normally. It's totally random, and we work well together. I suspect that you're going to need all the help you can get. Phong can take care of the Principal Office, just this once, until we know if this is a side effect of the restart or not. He ran the Principal Office for years, way before you arrived or I was co- processed." The unsaid thought, that she couldn't sit in the Principal Office worrying while he went into that strange game, was evident in the sudden silence. Bob laced his fingers through hers, holding her hand tightly as they waited. The game suddenly descended in a rush, as though a string holding it to the sky had snapped, dropping over the waiting sprites as it settled to the ground with a resounding boom.  
  
Phong, sitting in the Principal Office, looked at the vidwindow that showed the game cube. The tiny blue lights flickered on the light pink surface of the tall game cube -- which was still connected to the sky -- as it settled, then blinked out as the walls hardened and the game began. "Oh dear..."  
  
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A/N Well, I hope that wasn't too painful! Critiques welcome! 


	2. Deadly Games

A/N: On to the second chapter! Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters (obviously, since I don't work for Mainframe and am not a computer graphics artist) so don't sue me! ------  
  
Shattered Dreams Chapter 2  
  
Bob, still in his silver body armor, looked around at the game cube's environment. Trees dotted the rolling hillside and in the distance the sparkling blue ribbon of a river meandered down from a snowcapped mountain into a field of flowers. Also dotting the hill and field were hundreds of sprites, dressed in various colorful costumes. Bob closed his eyes for a moment, then his shoulders tensed.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Matrix, at Bob's left shoulder, looked at him in concern. "Where are we?"  
  
"We're in a game called Elementia. It's a role-playing game of faeries, ogres, humans, wizards and elves." Bob frowned down at the multitudes of sprites below them until Dot nudged him with her elbow.  
  
"What's the objective of this game, and where's the User?"  
  
Bob closed his eyes, but this time it was in pain. "The object of the game is to find five jewels: blue, green, red, white, and one that shines all the colors at different angles. The User..." Bob swallowed with difficulty and opened his eyes to look at the ring of concerned faces. "They are all Users," he said hoarsely, with a gesture toward the field with it's hundred of occupants. "This is a multiplayer game, which was why it looked so random."  
  
Dot stared down at the gathered sprites. "They're all Users? So how do we win? We can't delete them all!"  
  
"We have to find our User, the User from Mainframe, and kill him. But first we have to find him. That's the tough part."  
  
"Find 'im, sugah? How in the Net can we do that? There's hundred of 'em, and I doubt he's wearin' a sign sayin' 'User from Mainframe!'" Mouse, who had been silently observing, replied indignantly.  
  
"I can identify him if I get close to him. We do come from the same location, so our ID signals match. Now, let's get started. Reboot!" Bob was instantly covered by a shimmering green light, and when it dissipated he was dressed as an elf, his black and silver hair now completely black and his ears pointed. His skin was tinted a faint blue, much lighter than it's usual color and he was dressed in dark gray clothing, a bow slung over his shoulder next to a full quiver of arrows.  
  
Dot double clicked on her icon with a quick "Reboot!" The same green light covered her then lifted to reveal Dot dressed as a faerie. Her dark green hair had turned pale blonde and now rippled down her back, falling in waves and curls to her hips. Her skin had turned light peach and tiny transparent wings, like those on a butterfly and nearly hidden in the folds of her clothes, protruded from her back. She was dressed in a short, airy blue dress and her feet were bare. Carried in one hand, although it could obviously be stored in a sling on her back was a carved wooden staff.  
  
"Reboot!" "Reboot!" Matrix and AndrAIa rebooted in unison and were immediately bathed in green light. When it lifted it revealed both of them as human warriors, Matrix as a tall, muscular, bare-chested and dark-haired man in skintight green leather pants. He carried a broadsword and shield with ease and his long dark hair fell past his shoulders with a small braid at his temple banded with a green piece of cloth to match his pants. AndrAIa's outfit matched his, but with her longer hair completely bound in a complex braid that flowed down her back. A short bow and several holsters of throwing knives completed her outfit. Frisket, whose icon had been tapped after Matrix completed his reboot, had become a large, lean and very cruel looking gray wolf.  
  
"Reboot!" "Reboot!" Mouse and ray clicked on their icons and began the reboot. When the light cleared away Mouse was dressed in a long, dark blue wizard's robe and carrying a carved staff with a round crystal set into the end. The web Surfr, however, now towered over everyone else's heads at a startling nine feet and his skin had become gray-green. He wore brown cutoff shorts, carried a knobby wooden club and looked stunned and horrified. Mouse snickered.  
  
"Ya look adorable, sugah. Is that a fashion statement?" Matrix laughed and landed a resounding *thwack* on Ray's back. "Now you're even more fashionable, Tracer, and you didn't even have to click your icon to change into your websuit. Not to mention you've grown a bit."  
  
Dot looked slightly annoyed. "I thought I was the wizard in games. What am I now, a faerie? I look ridiculous, not to mention I doubt I could hurt a program bug with this stick." She hefted the carved staff, making her topic unmistakable. Bob smiled at her irritated tone, trying to avoid staring since the blue dress was low cut enough to leave very little to the imagination - and snickering, since she had infact become a pixie, not a faerie.  
  
"I think you look beautiful Dot. Anyway, your dress matches my skin tine." He jumped back to avoid her halfhearted swipe, grinning like he had before the web had forced him to adopt a serious demeanor. Despite their amused and casual momentary pause, Bob's face still showed tension lines, and as the group returned to the original workmanlike state of mind his worry spread until even Frisket was quietly anxious.  
  
Dot, ever the planner, began to voice ideas. "Let's split up into teams and search out the User. Matrix, you and AndrAIa head for those mountains. Mouse and Ray, you two check the field down there and that town over the hill. Frisket, go with Matrix and AndrAIa as usual. Bob and I will head for the lake, since our characters can find upgrades so that we can breathe underwater."  
  
Bob accessed his Glitch side and continued where Dot had left off. "The User is an elf, wearing a dark blue shirt with a white vest over it, dark green pants, a dark green hat and his skin is light green with short black hair. We can use small vidwindows in games, so if you spot the User contact everyone else and let us know where you are. Don't try to be a hero and delete him yourselves: he's very powerful in this game. Apparently, he's been playing a long time, and has amassed several levels and some of the more powerful weaponry. Try to get the jewels as well, since we stand a better chance of winning by using two strategies. Good luck." The others repeated the sentiment back to him and moved off, leaving Dot and Bob to watch them go. Dot looked at Bob out of the corner of her eyes.  
  
"Do we really stand a chance of winning, Bob?"  
  
Instead of answering her question he asked his own. "Are all of our icons configured like Matrix and AndrAIa"s so we can switch to game sprite mode?"  
  
Dot nodded. "Yes, we did that first thing after the restart so that we wouldn't have to worry about anyone ever getting nullified again. Why do you ask?" He heart sank as she asked the question; she knew what he would answer.  
  
Bob looked grim. "Because we might need to switch them, Dot. I don't think we can possibly win."  
  
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A/N: Sorry, I've got a thing for cliffhangers. *evil grin * Please R&R, and I'll post the next part after New Year's, if anyone wants me to continue! 


	3. Hope Fades

Disclaimer: I don't own Mainframe or ReBoot, so please don't sue me! Not that I have any money anyway, so pbbbt.  
  
A/N: Is anyone reading this? If there's interest, I'll keep writing after the last chapter I had finished, and finish up the story. If not, I'll find other stuff to occupy my time! :)  
  
Shattered Dreams  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Matrix was rapidly becoming bored, and as he got bored his temper grew blacker. They had been in the game for micros, but no one had found the elusive User from Mainframe. He and AndrAIa had taken out a User apiece and Frisket took care of the incredibly basic rats that seemed to infect dark places such as caves and sewers but were found nowhere else. Bob had called them twice to tell them that the User had found jewels, the green and white ones, and so far the score was user two and Mainframers zero. They were losing and Matrix hated to lose. To a User a lost game was simply that, nothing important; but to a sprite or binome a lost game meant nullification, a punishment only one short step above deletion and arguably worse. Even though their icons were configured so that they could escape by going into game sprite mode they would still be lost and have to try to find a system with ports to the Net so that they could get home again. The prospect was daunting; most systems had already been taken over by Daemon, and the chance of finding an uninfected one with ports was slim to none.  
  
Another User -- this one a wizard with a long gray beard and light blue robes -- appeared from around a bush and Matrix's temper snapped. With a bone-chilling battle cry he charged the User, his sword raised. For a moment the User looked surprised, but then he raised his hand, a red light forming in his upraised palm.  
  
"Matrix! Look out!" AndrAIa, too far away to help, tried to warn him but she knew he wasn't listening. She watched helplessly as the fireball formed on the User's hand and was flung towards the berserk sprite...  
  
...only to be stopped by a glowing orange shield. Matrix's charge was stopped as well, since he had collided with the shield and bounced off to lay on the ground, stunned.  
  
"Sugah, that had to be the most stupid thing I've ever seen you do, an' I watched you fight Megabyte! Now, calm down and think before you charge any User that has far magical powers or next time I won't be around to save your bitmap and you'll be deleted!" Mouse chastised the still stunned Matrix as Ray crept around behind the User and deleted him with one hard downswing of his club.  
  
AndrAIa had reached them in time to catch the ending of Mouse's angry speech. She glared at her partner, her fright having been channeled into rage. "I agree with Mouse, Enzo Matrix. You never did anything that basic when we were game hopping in our search for Mainframe, and you were way more upset during most of that trip. What wrong with you lately? If you don't control that temper of yours I'll be out a partner as well as the sprite I love. Compile up and act your age!" She stormed off, Frisket following her after a worried glance at Matrix. Mouse followed her, leaving Ray and Matrix alone near the bushes. Matrix scowled at the web Surfr, who was looking far too amused.  
  
"Well? Go ahead and put in your own jabs. I know you look for any opportunity to make me look basic."  
  
Ray grinned, an odd expression on the severe face of an ogre. "Not me, mate. I'm just here to watch the show, not participate in it." He stuck out a massive hand and helped Matrix to his feet, lifting the huge warrior sprite as though he weighed no more than a feather. "Let's catch up to the gals before they get away and I'm stuck with you as a partner." They started off in the direction Mouse, AndrAIa and Frisket had gone, following their receding forms through the forest.  
  
Dot and Bob were having more luck than the others. They had found upgrades that would allow them to breathe underwater and once they had reached the edge of the lake Bob had been able to scan it. The scan came up positive: there was a jewel at the bottom of the lake. They donned their upgrades, which gave them gills and webbed hands and feet that would last until they came out of the water. With a nod to each other they dived into the lake and pointed themselves downward, swimming toward the darkened bottom where a faint blue glow announced that the jewel was lying in the sand on the bottom awaiting capture.  
  
Dot was the first to notice the other swimmer. She stopped, treading water to stay upright and squinted her eyes. The figure drew closer and Dot gasped then turned and swam towards Bob as fast as she could. The sprite that was swimming toward them was an elf with short black hair and light green skin, wearing a dark blue shirt, white vest and dark green pants -- it was the User, and he was swimming toward them fast.  
  
Dot caught hold of Bob's hand and pointed at the User, unable to speak underwater but wishing for the telepathy that had come with the reboot in the underwater game where they had found AndrAIa. Bob turned and looked back, and then his eyes grew wide. Gesturing for Dot to follow he turned and sped downwards, hoping to beat the User to the jewel. They needed at least one jewel, since it would keep the User from winning until they could steal the pair of jewels he had already found.  
  
Despite the fact that Bob and Dot were swimming as fast as they could the User was still rapidly gaining on them. It was as if his swimming was magically assisted. Bob's face grew increasingly grim the closer the User got. Dot concentrated on the glow of the jewel, which was coming closer rapidly. The User might be swimming fast, but Bob and Dot weren't dogpaddling and they had a head start.  
  
They could see the facets of the gem when the User caught up to them. Bob let out a watery yell: he wouldn't let that jewel go without a fight when they were so close. Gesturing for Dot to retrieve the jewel he flung himself at the User, fouling his arms and legs, stopping his forward motion. The User struggled hard and managed to extend one arm toward Dot. Bob recognized the move too late.  
  
A brilliant beam of white light, as thin as an arrow shaft and as long as Bob's hand shot out of the User's palm. It streaked toward Dot as Bob watched helplessly, a soundless cry on his lips, unable to warn her and unable to stop it. Dot, sensing something wrong, turned and looked back towards them, only to see the beam heading for her. She screamed and jerked away, a move that saved her life. The beam, which had been heading for the middle of her head to cut her in half, skimmed along her cheek, leaving a trail of blue energy streaming out of the deep cut. The energy filtered into the water around her face, gleaming faintly and Dot's eyes grew wide as her hand flew to her cheek.  
  
Bob saw the User, who had gotten loose when Bob froze in horror, through a red film over his vision. Roaring his rage he plunged toward the User, whose hand was closing around the jewel. He streaked by Dot and caught the User by the ankle, but it was too late. The User already had the jewel and the protector of the blue jewel was awakened. An eel, glowing brightly with a deadly electric charge rose from the sand on the floor of the lake, its huge jaw full of sharp teeth ready to tear anyone foolish enough to get into it's way into small pieces. Bob took one look at the enormous sea creature and decided it would be wise to simply go after the next jewel, instead of trying to battle the User and a giant eel at the same time. Looping one arm around Dot's waist he swam for the surface, towing her beside him. Dot lay limp, in shock from her brush with death and Bob could feel her trembling as he swam. Tightening his hold on her waist he kicked his feet harder, his imagination showing him pictures of their mangled bodies, not completely deleted but wishing they were, floating in the still water after the eel had captured them.  
  
Dot stirred weakly in his grip and he held her tighter. *Don't fight me now, Dot! Yell at me when we surface but don't try to swim! You'd never be able to make it!* As though she could hear his thoughts Dot stopped moving and moments later they broke through to the surface of the water. Bob gasped for breath, treading water to keep them afloat before swimming for the shore with Dot still clutched to his side. Once the water grew shallow enough Bob staggered to his feet, still dragging Dot along with him. He managed to wade the last few feet to the beach and gently set Dot down before he collapsed in exhaustion.  
  
Dot lay where Bob had set her for a moment before sitting up, every muscle quivering from fright. Had she not turned when she did she would have been deleted, her still body floating for a moment before fading away to nothing. She opened a vidwindow to Matrix's group and discovered that the remainder of their small team was with him. Good: she wouldn't have to waste precious millis and energy calling Mouse and Ray and explaining what had happened all over again.  
  
"Dot? What happened? You're bleeding." Matrix was concerned and the others clustered around the vidwindow, echoing his question.  
  
'We encountered the User and came out second," she replied, her eyes tracking the User, who had just climbed out of the lake. Moments later the body of the giant eel floated to the surface -- minus it's head. She shuddered and turned back to the vidwindow. "He has three jewels now, and I've figured out the pattern. His first one, the green jewel, was in a cave set into the hillside -- it was the jewel of earth. The second one, the white one, was floating among the leaves of a tree but not touching anything -- the jewel of air. This last one was blue and it was underwater -- it was the jewel of water. There's two more left, the red one and the multihued one, so they must be from the remaining elements..."  
  
"Wind and fire," AndrAIa interrupted her. "Wind should be spirit, but I don't think there would be any way to hide a gem inside a spirit. So one had to be somewhere windy, like a mountaintop maybe, and the other..."  
  
"Somewhere hot and fiery but accessible," Matrix concluded as AndrAIa trailed off thoughtfully. "Like a volcano." He pointed at a distant mountain, where a curling plume of smoke issued from the squared-off top.  
  
"Exactly." Dot nodded in satisfaction, then turned and looked at Bob in concern, since he hadn't moved since he collapsed. "Split back up into your groups and head for the other two jewels, they shouldn't be hard to find. If you're unsuccessful," her throat clogged on that possibility: losing a game had always meant nullification before and it was hard to comprehend that she could escape unscathed, "vidwindow the rest of us and we'll head for the remaining gem. If all of us can't get to it in time and the User gets it, vidwindow everyone so that we can go to game sprite mode. Good luck." She closed the vidwindow and turned to the still Bob.  
  
"I'm glad you warned them about the possibility of losing." His voice was so quiet and hoarse with exhaustion that if she hadn't been so close she wouldn't have heard him. "I don't think we can win, Dot. He's an ayar-mage elf, a type so strong that it requires a powerful and nearly impossible to find upgrade to reach. He's almost invincible ... and we're not. Now we're down three to nothing, and with those odds..." he trailed off, his thought unspoken. His eyes opened, and the expression in them chilled her heart more than any worry he had revealed had -- he was uncertain. She had never seen him uncertain before. Worried yes, even frightened, but not uncertain; Bob never doubted himself or his gaming abilities. If he was uncertain now in his more powerful state and with Matrix and AndrAIa -- two sprites who had grown up playing games and were nearly unbeatable -- beside him they were in serious trouble.  
  
"Have you ever seen this type of game before?" she asked, her voice hopeful; but he shook his head.  
  
"Even in the supercomputer multiplayer games were just legends. I can't think of any stories about sprites that went into multiplayer games. They just never came, so no one bothered to teach cadets about something that was only a legend. I don't know of any way to beat this game besides deleting the User or capturing all the jewels." He closed his eyes, trying to avoid looking at the fright on Dot's face. He loved her, but he couldn't spare her this pain -- she had to know so she could be prepared for the worst. Dot was always prepared for the worst, always had a plan and a backup plan. He counted on her to be the opposite side of the coin to him -- prepared with a plan for every possible scenario to balance his spur-of- the-moment decision making. As usual, she didn't let him down.  
  
"All right," she began brusquely, taking a deep breath and turning her fear into energy she could use in the battle ahead, "If you're rested enough we should go help the others. They're going to need our help to battle that User." She pushed herself to her feet and extended a hand toward him.  
  
Bob gratefully accepted her assistance and clambered slowly to his feet to stand on legs that were still shaky. "I'm ready, let's go." Dot smiled at him, then blanched, her hand flying to her injured cheek. When she pulled her hand away at his urging her fingertips were stained with blue energy and a small rivulet ran down her cheek to drip off her delicate chin from the reopened cut.  
  
'Wait Dot, you're still hurt." He reached up and laid a gentle hand on her cut, but she flinched from even his soft touch. The skin around the cut was puffy and hot -- the water, so close to the giant eel, hadn't been very clean and her cut was infected. Bob made soothing noises as he touched her cheek again, his fingers glowing with soft yellow light.  
  
Dot cried out as the light touched her skin, but the pain was over in nanoseconds. She gingerly touched her cheek as he pulled away, then gave him a questioning look. "What did you do? It feels like there's something on my cheek holding the cut together."  
  
"I used a patch command," he replied, bending down to was his fingers clean in an incoming wave. "It's not permanent, but it'll hold until we can get you to a diagnostic program, and prevent scarring as well. Just don't stress it too much -- save those beautiful smiles for later." He gave her a quick grin and stood up. "Shall we go?"  
  
She bent down and swished her own hands around in the water. "Let's do it." They headed for the smoking mountain, knowing that they wouldn't get to the closer of the two mountains in time to help defeat the User, who had a head start and was probably halfway there already, but they could help at the volcano if the others were defeated in the search for the jewel of wind.  
  
***  
  
A/N: Well, the cliffhanger isn't so bad this time! Please click the little button at the bottom and review, or give me constructive criticism, or something. I need some encouragement! 


	4. An Ill Wind

Disclaimer: I don't own ReBoot, or there would be another season!  
  
A/N: So sorry this took so long! Things got a little crazy around here. Hope you enjoy, and I'll start working on the next one! Thanks also to all my reviewers: Rackster, Eienvine (you'll just have to wait and see, don't want to ruin the story!), Lord Drakan, WebMistressGina, and StrawBerriePunk.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
An Ill Wind  
  
"I don't like this, Andi. It's too quiet. This is a forest, not a cemetery. There should be animal noises! There's something wrong." Matrix scanned the forest with his bionic eye, searching for energy that would come from lurking sprites, but this search, just like the half dozen before it, was unsuccessful. It only served to make him jitterier.  
  
"Enzo, would you relax? No animals means no surprise attacks. We're fine, really. Just calm down."  
  
"I don't like it!" he growled, his right hand moving down to where his Gun was usually holstered, his fingers twitching slightly. "It's not normal. I prefer fighting something, not waiting for something to decide to fight me."  
  
AndrAIa simply shook her head and continued walking in silence. Sometimes it was just pointless to argue with him. Obstinate, hardheaded sprite. Finally she couldn't take his unnerving silence and rapid glances any longer.  
  
"Enzo, would you stop worrying? We're safe here and -- AHHH!"  
  
AndrAIa was jerked into a nearby tree by a suddenly dropped vine and was immediately out of sight, only her scream left to linger in the air.  
  
"AndrAIa!" Matrix unsheathed his sword and jumped into the tree in one smooth, fast movement, but was bounced out of the tree at the same speed he had entered it.  
  
"What in the 'Net?" He reached up to grab a low branch to pull himself into the tree ... and it moved out of his way. He scowled up at the tree, worry for AndrAIa making him frantic, and then he saw it. Midway up the tree, neatly concealed by leafy branches, was a maliciously smirking face. His bionic eye had registered nothing out of the ordinary, and he realized that the tree monster had escaped detection by simply being what it was: a tree. His eye had picked up the energy emitted by the tree, but he had disregarded it. He knew the trees were there; he had been looking for a threat concealed among them.  
  
"Hey, mold for brains!" The tree paused, then looked down at him. He rested one hand on his hip and gestured with the other with an open handed. "Give me back my girlfriend!" It was a pathetic ploy, but for the moment, it was the best he could come up with.  
  
The tree gave him a silent laugh and waved the cocooned AndrAIa in an unmistakable "come get her, if you can" gesture. Matrix lunged at the tree, his sword raised. The tree dangled AndrAIa's wrapped form until the last moment, then yanked her back into it's branches. The muffled yelp she made as the tree pulled her up roughly relieved Matrix's worry that she was already dead.  
  
Pulling back slightly he frowned thoughtfully. AndrAIa was usually the planner in these types of games -- he preferred fighting in a fly by the seat of your pants style he had learned from Bob as a young sprite. AndrAIa was unavailable at the moment though, so the planning was his responsibility. He thought for a few nanos, and then looked up at the tree, which was still watching him curiously. He wished he had an axe.  
  
"All right barkbreath, let's make a deal. She's skinny and short, you won't get any nourishment out of her. I want you to exchange her for me." The tree appeared to consider his proposal, then frowned at his sword. "You want me to drop my sword?" The tree nodded and Matrix knelt down and threw his blade forward. "Done. Now, release her and then you can take me. I won't move, you have my word as a ... Guardian."  
  
The tree eyed him, then eyed the cocoon that was AndrAIa. Even packaged in several layers of confining vines it was obvious that AndrAIa was much smaller than the massive, muscular Matrix, and finally the tree's greed won out over its common sense. Unfurling the vines around AndrAIa's petite form it dropped the gasping sprite to the ground. It immediately lunged for Matrix, but he lashed out with the knife he had palmed when he had bent down to throw his sword forward and cut off the vines the tree was trying to use to capture him. The tree shrieked, shocked and obviously never having been double-crossed before. It was enough time for Matrix to dash in and grab his sword before backing out of range to join AndrAIa, who had crawled out of reach of the deadly tree's vines.  
  
"Never trust the word of a renegade, tree. I only keep it when it's not going to hurt myself or those I care about." He wrapped one arm protectively around AndrAIa's waist, but she frowned up at him.  
  
"Skinny and short, am I? Humph. I was taking care of that problem myself, Matrix. I almost had it solved. You didn't have to try and be SuperMatrix." She marched off, leaving a blinking Matrix to stare after her.  
  
Sighing, he looked back at the tree, then trotted after AndrAIa. "Andi, wait! I was just saying that to get the tree to drop you! I think you're perfect just as you are! Andiiiii!"  
  
***  
  
"This place gives me the jaggies," AndrAIa remarked quietly as they stood looking up at the side of the foreboding mountain. It wasn't that the mountain was dark or ringed by evil-looking clouds -- it was actually a very ordinary looking mountain, even pretty, with small fields of wildflowers dotting it's slopes and white cloudpuffs zipping by in the high winds. What was making AndrAIa nervous was the heavy feeling in the air, the feeling of impending disaster. She knew that the User had crawled out of the lake and ran off as Dot had been talking to them, and she also knew from Dot's report that the User was able to go superhumanly fast was he needed speed to reach his goal. There was no doubt in her mind that he was nearly to the mountain.  
  
"You accuse me of being nervous, Andi. I've never seen you fret this much. What's wrong? Do you see something on the mountain I don't?" Matrix's concerned voice broke into her thoughts and shattered them, sending them flying away unfinished. She blinked and looked at him for a moment and he repeated his question.  
  
"No ... no, I don't see anything. It's more of a feeling. Let's start up, and quickly. I can't help thinking that the User's almost here." Matrix nodded and they began climbing.  
  
"Scanning..." Matrix looked at the rock-strewn slops around them, his bionic eye scanning for energy. "...nothing." The glowing red stylized M of his eye turned onto it's side and slid upwards to be replaced by the regular golden M. "There's nothing on the mountain or near the forest. No sign of the User, Andi."  
  
AndrAIa sighed. "I can't help but feel he's close and it worries me, Matrix. Let's get this over with."  
  
"Yeah, good idea." They started climbing the steps that they had found once they had reached the top of the mountain. The steps were cut into the rock of the mountain and were veined with sparkling white quartz, leading steeply upwards to a domed building that was also cut out of the gray rock of the mountain. At the pinnacle of the dome was a round, clear crystal orb, and AndrAIa frowned when she saw it.  
  
"Do you think Bob was wrong and that clear globe is actually the jewel? It looks important, set up on top of the dome as it is." She gestured at the orb and Matrix squinted up at it.  
  
"No, Bob's never wrong. That's not it; it's just a decoration. The jewel must be inside. Let's get in and get out so we can help Mouse and the Surfr." He started into the temple, but AndrAIa hesitated, biting her lower lip uncertainly. This was wrong -- it was far too easy. She glanced down the side of the mountain at an angle to the place they had climbed up, and she saw him.  
  
The User was a short ways down the mountain and climbing fast. Matrix's eye hadn't caught him because a ridge that had disguised his movements had hid him. When Matrix had scanned again at the top the ridge had turned and lay running along the side of the mountain, forcing the User to follow the path it made and once again hiding him from view. Now he was in the clear and pouring on sped to reach the jewel ahead of them. As AndrAIa watched, shocked and horrified, he seemed to almost fly up several more yards of slope, gaining on them quickly. She turned and ran into the passage that led to the temple as fast as her strong legs could carry her.  
  
"Move it, Matrix! We've got company and he's not taking the trip leisurely!" Matrix glanced back once and saw her barreling toward him before he began running, his massively built frame managing to move as quickly as her lithe, agile body. Despite their speed he could still hear the loud pounding of the User's feet as he ran up the stairs, but the stairs suddenly took a sharp right turn before opening into an immense room.  
  
The gray walls of the room were bare and the only break in the monotonous circle were carved pillars set at regular distances along the wall that supported the dome. In the exact center of the room was an enormous quartz crystal, flat and smoothly polished on the top but otherwise rough and uncut. In a round indentation in the polished top of the crystal lay the jewel, sparkling in a beam of light transmitted by the round orb set in the top of the dome. At the entrance to the room an eagle, made out of gold, was inlaid in the polished floor.  
  
"There it is!" Matrix charged toward the jewel but once again AndrAIa hesitated. Her game sprite instincts told her that this was too easy; there had to be something like the giant eel, a guardian except it would be one ... of ... wind ... AndrAIa glanced at the floor sharply. Matrix's booted foot was just about to touch the golden eagle inlaid on the floor, and warning bells went off in AndrAIa's head.  
  
"Matrix, no! Don't step on --" She swallowed her shouted warning as his foot landed on the eagle and a loud click echoed through the room. Matrix stumbled to a halt as the smooth curve of the wall opposite him began to swing open, fear showing plain on his rugged features, a rare occurrence.  
  
"What is that?" he whispered in a choked voice as a massive, fiercely clawed foot emerged from the opening wall.  
  
AndrAIa swallowed. "An eagle. A very big eagle. I think we're in trouble."  
  
Matrix jolted into action. "Get the jewel! I'll hold off the eagle!" He was halfway across the room, charging the emerging eagle before AndrAIa could remind him that they had the User, who was turning the corner and about to enter the room, to deal with as well. Suppressing a sigh she ran toward the jewel. Hardheaded, impulsive sprite.  
  
The eagle had been concentrating on Matrix until AndrAIa ran for the jewel, then it's priorities changed as it's programming kicked in. Anyone who headed for the jewel must be stopped. With a sweep of one mammoth wing the bird sent Matrix crashing into the wall. It left him to slide to the floor unconscious and hopped toward AndrAIa with a screeching cry. She saw it heading toward her and tried to hurry her strides, but the grueling pace of the trip up the tall mountain had left her trying to fight through her tiredness and the eagle was almost on top of her before she took three steps. Knowing that further attempts to reach the jewel before the guardian reached her were futile she turned to face it, a knife in one hand and the fins on her other arm extended. She wouldn't go down easily.  
  
Although Matrix had been knocked out by the eagle's wing, his ability to recover from any blow quickly had saved his life many times, most recently in his battle with Megabyte. Within nanoseconds he was awake and able to open his eyes, and what he saw brought him fully conscious and to his feet with a roar that echoed off the stone walls, magnified and duplicating until the temple was filled with sound. AndrAIa, fighting the very enemy he was supposed to protect her from with a small knife and her arm fin. AndrAIa ... the woman he loved, about to be deleted by his mistake. A scene from their voyage on the Saucy Mare filled his mind, AndrAIa crying out for his help as her code was stolen by a webcreature he could have protected her from had he been with her and not on the ship consumed with jealousy and anger. He had failed her then, but he was determined not to fail her now.  
  
"Nooo!" Tossing his sword into the air he caught it by the blade, hilt facing the rear, and threw it javelin-style. Hi eyes followed the glittering piece of deadly steel in it's arc toward the eagle's heart and as he followed the blade his vision was captured by the sight of the User. He had arrived at the altar, unnoticed in the heat of battle, and was reaching for the jewel. Matrix knew they wouldn't be able to stop him from taking the jewel of wind -- now their only hope lay in Mouse and Ray reaching the volcano in time.  
  
The blade reached it's target and sunk into the eagle's cheat at the same moment the User lifted the jewel from it's place on the pedestal. The eagle's death cry was echoed in the walls of the temple as spidery cracks ran up the sides and the entire building began shaking, groaning ominously.  
  
"Matrix! The whole place is collapsing! We have to get out, now!" AndrAIa bolted for the entrance with Matrix right behind her and went down the stairs, tripping and stumbling, but not falling, in their haste. Massive pieces of stone fell around them and the door to the temple collapsed as the stairway began to crumble behind them and beneath their feet as they ran. The loud cracking sound the stairway made as it broke away and fell into the dark depths below them spurred them on, getting more speed out of their tired legs than they had thought possible.  
  
A section of the vein of quartz dislodged itself from the stairwell's ceiling, falling onto Matrix's shoulder with a loud crack. Matrix gasped but kept running, his left arm hanging limply at his side. He couldn't afford to pay attention to his pain, so he ran on behind AndrAIa, his steps gradually slowing as the throbbing pain of his injury weakened him. A light appeared ahead and he poured his remaining strength into reaching it before either he collapsed or the remainder of the stairway did.  
  
AndrAIa stumbled and skidded into the light with a sigh of relief, only to hear the rumble of rocks collapsing raising a massive, all encompassing cloud of dust. She looked around, but Matrix wasn't with her. He hadn't made it out of the stairway.  
  
"Matrix! No, you have to have made it! Where are you?" She ran toward the slowly settling dust cloud, only to see a dark figure appear inside it. Her heart leapt into her throat, hope and fear colliding and mingling -- she hadn't seen the User since he took the jewel and the figure could be him, but it could also be Matrix.  
  
"Andi?" The weak question, barely audible and accompanied by a coughing fit, sent relief pummeling through her. It was Matrix, he had made it out before the stairs collapsed. She started playfully scolding him in mock anger, but her relief turned to concern when he stumbled and fell onto his knees, his eyes squeezed shut and his right hand holding his left shoulder gingerly.  
  
"Matrix?" She started forward, one hand held out in concern and received only a pained groan in response. She knelt by his side and touched his uninjured shoulder. "What happened?"  
  
"Rock fell on my shoulder." The terse answer, spoken through clenched teeth, told her volumes about his pain. Mostly that there was a lot of it.  
  
"Here, let me see it." She gently moved his unresisting hand away and studied his shoulder. A bruise was already forming, a large, black and very ugly bruise, but their were no cuts and he wasn't losing energy. "I think you might have dislocated it. From the placement of the bruise it was only a glancing blow, so it shouldn't be broken. Don't move it any and you'll be fine until we can get help." She unwrapped the binding from her hair and made a sling that hung around his neck to immobilize his arm. She gently set his wrist in the sling and tied it in place, trying to avoid hurting him, but even the gentle, slow movements brought a grimace to his face. Apologizing every time she hurt him AndrAIa secured his arm in the sling then sat back. It was crude, but it would work until they got his to a diagnostic program.  
  
Once Matrix's arm was tended to AndrAIa opened a pair of vidwindows to the other groups. Bob looked grim as she gave them the news. "This is bad, AndrAIa. Very bad. There's only one jewel left, and if we don't get it..." he trailed off, looking solemnly at Dot, "We leave with the game." They all knew what that meant. Dot's duties as command.com couldn't wait until she got back, so the system would be mostly defenseless until they returned. Daemon could then attack any time she chose and Phong, while an excellent manager and well practiced as command.com, wouldn't be able to hold out against an attack from a virus of that magnitude. They were behind by four jewels against a User whose powers approached that of a demigod and the clock was ticking. All in all the situation was bleak.  
  
"Well," Bob began, the note of cheerfulness in his voice causing the others to turn to the vidwindow of his image in surprise, "There's nothing my good looks and charm can't get me through. This should be easy enough." A few weak chuckles greeted his announcement, but the majority of the reactions to his attempt to lighten the brooding atmosphere were continued hopelessness. They had all fallen into the black pit of despair, fearing that they would never see Mainframe again without the influence of Daemon controlling it. Matrix was the worst. His eyelids were half closed and his fists were clenched tightly, with a muscle tic in his jaw moving spasmodically. He had lived this already -- the helplessness, the despair, the knowledge that they were going to lose this game no matter what they tried to do, since the point of no return had long since passed and they were on the wrong side of victory. The losing side. Little Enzo had died in such a game and had been reborn as Matrix, who had striven to be stronger, tougher, harder, and above all to never lose another game. But they were losing now and the rage was building up in Matrix, side by side with despair, and would resist further restraint before much longer.  
  
AndrAIa recognized the signs of Matrix's imminent temper explosion and laid a hand on his uninjured arm. When he looked up at her she smiled at him gently. "We've survived before and we'll make it through now. Something will come up, I'm sure of it." Her low voice carried only to his ears, but the words were rife with emotion and sincerity. He nodded, his temper doused for the moment. He knew she was right. She usually was.  
  
"All right sugah, me 'n Ray'll stop 'im. Just stay frosty." Mouse closed her vidwindow and Bob did the same, leaving Matrix and AndrAIa alone near the wreckage of the temple once again.  
  
"Do you think you can walk, lover? If not, we can wait --"  
  
"I'm fine," he cut her off, slowly getting to his feet and waving her away when she moved to help. "If I can't even get to my feet with a hurt shoulder, what will I do when we meet up with Daemon? Let's go. The others will need our help." She nodded and stood up next to him and they moved off down the mountain, heading for the volcano that housed the jewel of fire which was their last hope. 


End file.
